Quote:
Originally Posted by Durham Lady
Checking some of my thrulines, and wondering,
are these links to other folk definite dna links or just because we all have the same name in our tree? Just wondering if it's worth contacting some of them as it looks like I might have the correct 5x g grandparents after all, I was never sure, or is it that we have all "found" the same marriages and assumed, but have a connection somehow.
Sorry if this sounds confusing, my brain is practically addled with it all.  |
Daphne, from Ancestry:
AncestryDNA® ThruLines™
are these links to other folk definite dna links
No.
"Since ThruLines™ are based on the family trees of you and other members of Ancestry, they're as accurate as the trees they're based on."
"Because they're based on trees, ThruLines™ don't prove your specific connection to a DNA match."
or just because we all have the same name in our tree?
Yes.
"We use the family tree linked to your test to find people who are in your tree and are also in your matches' linked trees."
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I think the DNA connection to a specific individual (your "match") is definite (you do share some snippet or snippets of DNA, large or small, close or distant) but that is all you know.
Your tree and his/her tree might match for the right reasons or for entirely wrong reasons. To give an extreme example, if you and your DNA match share a family trait of wanting to be related to royalty and you each have a tree jerryrigged to make you a direct descendant of Alfred the Great and Genghis Khan, then that tree match should light up brilliantly on ThruLines.
Does that help, or have I made matters worse? (Full disclosure: I haven't used ThruLines yet.
)